Are you fitter than a fifth-grader?

Published: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 05:55 PM.

On Saturday in the Ruckel Middle School gym, you can find out how your fitness sizes up to the top fifth-grade students in Okaloosa County at the “Are You Fitter than a Fifth-Grader?” event.

Try to run a half mile in 3 minutes or do 60 push-ups in a row. Remember the shuttle run, where runners sprint between two lines to pick up and place an eraser? Try to beat a 10-year-old’s time.

“This is something that will be fun for everyone and it promotes fitness, which is becoming popular again but is still behind in some ways,” said Wendy Ballasch, the event’s organizer.

The event is a fundraiser for her friend, Army Capt. Shawn Toenyes, a former instructor at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, who is trying to raise $10,000 for the EOD Warrior Foundation. He has raised at least $3,500 through sponsorships of his recent Iron Man races, but Ballasch wanted to help collect more.

The foundation provides support to wounded bomb technicians and to families of those who have fallen.

Ballasch’s husband is a P.E. teacher at Mary Esther Elementary and helped inspire the idea.

She said interest has been high. People enjoy remembering their own physical fitness tests when they were growing up and imagining how they might compare today.

She thinks adults will have the most trouble competing in the flexibility tests.

“I just hope I don’t pull a hamstring,” she joked.

CHECK IT OUT Register for the event at Core Nutrition in Fort Walton Beach today or Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. or from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday at Ruckel Middle School. The event will run from 9 a.m. to noon. There also will be a Halloween contest, raffle and pumpkin carving.

On Saturday in the Ruckel Middle School gym, you can find out how your fitness sizes up to the top fifth-grade students in Okaloosa County at the “Are You Fitter than a Fifth-Grader?” event.

Try to run a half mile in 3 minutes or do 60 push-ups in a row. Remember the shuttle run, where runners sprint between two lines to pick up and place an eraser? Try to beat a 10-year-old’s time.

“This is something that will be fun for everyone and it promotes fitness, which is becoming popular again but is still behind in some ways,” said Wendy Ballasch, the event’s organizer.

The event is a fundraiser for her friend, Army Capt. Shawn Toenyes, a former instructor at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, who is trying to raise $10,000 for the EOD Warrior Foundation. He has raised at least $3,500 through sponsorships of his recent Iron Man races, but Ballasch wanted to help collect more.

The foundation provides support to wounded bomb technicians and to families of those who have fallen.

Ballasch’s husband is a P.E. teacher at Mary Esther Elementary and helped inspire the idea.

She said interest has been high. People enjoy remembering their own physical fitness tests when they were growing up and imagining how they might compare today.

She thinks adults will have the most trouble competing in the flexibility tests.

“I just hope I don’t pull a hamstring,” she joked.

CHECK IT OUT Register for the event at Core Nutrition in Fort Walton Beach today or Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. or from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday at Ruckel Middle School. The event will run from 9 a.m. to noon. There also will be a Halloween contest, raffle and pumpkin carving.